For the first time ever I carried a foam pad to sleep in my hammock with on my attempted presidential traverse this past weekend w/ two other BPL members:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.758939641886.2147474.17506531&type=1&l=9706ea2562

In then end it was all good, but two of us carried foam pads that got soaked in a nasty downpour above the treeline.

I use a nylofume bag as a pack liner in my GG Murmur backpack and strap the foam pad to the outside of the pack. (I tried putting the foam pad inside my Murmur but outside my pack liner and it made packing a PIA and the Murmur extremely tall).

So the pad got soaked.... how do people deal with this while on the trail? If i slept on it my clothes and my down quilt would of absorbed water.

Thanks.

Edited by bster13 on 08/07/2012 13:23:12 MDT.

If its closed cell I would just wipe it down after setting up camp with bandana or cook kit rag.

+1 on that. Nightlites are generally waterproof, but I am not too sure about the new ones. Zlites are also waterproof. As James says, just wipe them dry.

CCF doesnt absorb, so just shake it off right?

My pad was a very light white pad I got out of a box that was used to pack/protect new chairs I had shipped, no clue what type of 3/8th foam it is. by 61 in by 26.25in came in around 6oz.

My other buddy had a standard grey foam pad.

Both were wet. :(

Get a CCF pad...

Sounds like you used open cell foam which will absorb quite a bit of moisture/water. Closed cell foam won't, which is what most backpacking pads are made of.

Quite possible, as mine was incredibly light for the area of the pad. Don't really want to give up that lightness in my SUL hammock setup, we'll c what I can do.

I'll wait for my BPL friend to chime in as I thought he had a standard CCF grey foam pad.

Since you didn't state which brand of foam pad, I'm guessing the blue foam stuff is porous. so it acts like a foam sponge around water. Whereas the Thermarest Z lite or RidgeRest CCF are CLOSED cell foam, with a plastic coating. making it water resistant, non-absorbent.

EDIT: we posted at the same time. Now I see you stated the exposed grey foam stuff. That is like the egg crate padding that I added to the top of my home bed mattress. Yes that stuff is porous, you can wring it, but that would stress the fabric to tear.

Edited by RogerDodger on 08/07/2012 15:50:39 MDT.

Bryce's pad was PEF as far as I can tell. I had a CCF pad, which I had strapped to the back of my pack vertically after being rolled.

The CCF pad, from all indications, looked to have absorbed some water (from a test of squeezing it and seeing if any water extracted).

Now back in civilization and being able to do some more research(via a google search), the coated *surface* of CCF is moisture absorption resistant, but the material itself (ie the edges) is not.

This leads me to believe the following:
-If you were to dunk it in your sink it would absorb water.
-If you were to have it mounted vertically on your pack, the rain that hits the edge will absorb through the material
-If you were to have it mounted horizontally on your pack, the rain that hits the top and bottom surface won't absorb much, if at all, and can be wiped off, with minial absorption around the edges.

Edited by TinCanFury on 08/07/2012 15:57:29 MDT.

Thanks for the info Steve. I think with the nasty winds, the rain would of gotten your pad either way it was stacked on your pack (or mine for that matter), but perhaps if I go to a trash compactor bag for a pack liner (bigger than my Nylofume bags) and force myself to put the pad (CCF or PEF) inside it, that might work even though I won't like it.

you know those thin cellophane plastic bags at the grocery store, either the ones at the produce section with no handles, or the grocery plastic bags with handles at the checkout...

if you decide to hike in the rain, with CCF or OPEN cell pad vertically on the outside of the pack, then you can try to put a plastic bag ghetto hat on it. it's so thin it won't register on the food scale. you can use a pack strap to keep it from flying off, or even more ghetto gear, a couple of scotch tape strips to make a cellophane hat for the upright top tip of the pad.

I like the BPL crowd, because they are open to strange suggestions :)

yes, but mounted horizontally I believe the edge absorption would be minimal, especially with movement where the drops would shake off where mounted vertically they would have more time to penetrate the edge.

my gut feeling is if I had taken the pad off, wiped it down and *then* done a "squeeze" test the amount of absorbed water would have been minimal, and only along the edges. As it was I tested along the outward facing edge that saw both the direct impact of the rain itself, but also the water running down the edge over time.

Perhaps just cut a nylafume(sp?) to the size of your pad so you can still strap it on the outside of your pack?

or just buy a larger, cuben, pack and avoid nyla-blah(?...) alltogether...

What Rodger suggests. Me likes.

I wonder if the larger corn bags would fit over an entire pad? they are a heavier plastic though...

The size nylofume bag that works well with my GG Murmur is 24g or .85oz, a trash compactor bag is 64g or 2.25 oz.

So carrying an additional Nylofume bag (as a really long "hat" as someone else said, not sure if it can totally swallow a 26in rolled up pad yet) is the lightest option out of my current gear. We'll C.... thx.

cellophane bags from the grocery store would get killed IMO from being beaten up, and would fully swallow my 26in rolled pad. But good idea perhaps for smaller bag, I can live with Nylofume weight.

another option: buy an XXXL rain jacket...

I believe that is the sign it is time for me to leave work for the day.

A ridgerest or zlite will NOT absorb any water, do you want me to dunk mine in my tub for 10 minutes and weigh it?

(google)

Z-rest (lite?) dry: 405g

Z-rest after half a minute submerged, then shaken: 434g

Z-rest after one hour , 3/4 of it submerged, in luke warm water, then shaken: 435g

So, give or take a gramme, a fairly new z-rest is not absorbing any water. Surface scratches might make a difference but I doubt it. I am going with the idea that my sleeping bag was absorbing some of the residual rain water on the top surface and the rest combined with condensation is what showed up the next day underneath the mat.

The water gain in the Z-rest was 30g, more than a nylofume that I am reasonably sure it is waterproof. Plus my generic pad is bigger. I don't want my down bag or my only set of clothes to absorb anything if possible.

Only kicker is the insulative properties of my pad, which I bet are less, but was fine for me down to low 50s this weekend anyway.